This recipe has been adapted from a professional source. I had to make some "conversions" in technique and quantities to better suit myself. Changes include methodology regarding such things as cheddaring...I wont be making too many 9 inch blocks of curds . With regards to ingredients, they use 2 metho strains L. Lactis and L. Cremoris...for my purposes I will likely use Kazu or MM100.

If I have omitted something, or am unclear in some aspect, please let me know. I will be making some cheddar during the upcoming week and will be fine-tuning this recipe to become my permanent cheddar recipe.

6. Start cooking 15 min after cutting. Increase temperature 102F during 30 minutes. Heat slowly at first - no more than 2F every 5 min.

7. Hold at 102F until pH is 6.1 (about 75 min from the time the temperature reaches 102F or 2 h from the time of cutting). If the acidity is increasing too quickly, the temperature may be raised slightly (maximum 104F) to retard the culture.

8. When curd pH is 6.0-6.1 (whey pH 6.2-6.3) remove the whey. After the bulk of the whey is removed stir out the curd two or three times to facilitate maximum whey drainage.

9. Drain curds in cloth/colander, applying pressure to form curd mass in pot, maintaining some warmth. Turn the block every 15 min until the pH is 5.4-5.3, pouring off whey as needed (about 2 h after dipping).

10. Mill the curds into ½ inch x 2 inch pieces. Stir the cheese curds every ten min or so until the cut edges become round and smooth (about 30 min after milling).

11. Distribute the salt uniformly over the curd and mix well. The final salt content of the cheese should be about 1.7%. Calculate the required amount of salt as follows:

14. Vacuum pack the cheese blocks and age at 50F for curing. Cold curing (41-46F) produces the best cheese but ripening is slow. Warm cured cheese (50-60F) develops flavour rapidly but quality control is more difficult.

I believe the pressures listed exceed the capability of my dutch press. They, apparently, vacuum pack the cheese immediately after pressing at those pressures. I am relatively sure I will need to press at lesser pressure and then allow the cheese to dry a few days before vacuum packing.

Since the temperature range is past the mesophilic and into the thermophilic phase, Kazu may work better than MM100 culture.

As for the press; this is probably the pressure for very tall industrial wheels. Knowing the form factor is important because you are not going to use the same KPA/PSI for a cheese that's 4" tall as you would for a cheese that's 20" tall.

In other words... say you use a Tomme mould with 7.5" diameter. Your surface area is 44²". At 75KPA (about 11 PSI, let's just move to that so you can use Lbs. instead of Kg), that's about 480 Lbs. press. However, say their recipe is for a 20" tall wheel, then this is the weight needed to press 5x the amount of curd under each square inch, right? So then, your pressing weight should be 480 / 5 = 96 Lbs. Put 24 lbs on your dutch press at the x4 setting and there you go.

Makes sense?

I wouldn't vacuum right away. Will wait 2-3 days for the surface to dry first. You don't want drops of moisture all over the rind making it all mushy. It may seem like the cheese may be dry but it really isn't. It's just the outside.

Yeah...sounds correct! I was already planning on taking a 2 or 3 drying phase after pressing. All my pressed cheeses are still moist on the outside and it would give me the willies to vacuum seal it right off.

Kazu it will be soon as I get around to making it, that is...am hoping tuesday or wednesday. If not then I will probably have to wait another week or 2. Thursday through the weekend are going to be mad busy for me .... I have picked up quite a bit from the book I am currently reading..."American Farmstead Cheese"....Cheese making is becoming more than just "do this..wait x amount of time then do that"...knowing why things are done are so helpful with regards to knowing what to look for as well as the why and what options you may have. For instance: a couple weeks ago I never would have thought to bump the temp up a bit during the curd cooking phase to slow down the rate of acidification if things seem to be moving along too fast. My response then would have been to take less time on each step until I got back onto the curve. Not a good solution...

Huh... what page is that in the book? I missed that one.Cheesemaking does not borrow any common sense from our lifetime of cooking experience. You have to think of it as gardening.... cultivating life forms to create things. You are becoming sort of a director who switch up/down on or off the different life forms at different stages in order to get the harmonious development you seek. It takes a while to master the common sense in this realm because it's really nothing like what we know from any other aspect of daily routines.

IRF - I have to disagree with the use of Kazu. 102F is not beyond a meso range and many cheddar makers heat to 102F. The recipe is correct that 104F is a maximum so be sure your thermometer is accurate. Heating to 102F actually slows down the acidification and gives the curds time to develop acid and texture in a slower but more desireable way. Kazu certainly brings S. themophillus into the mix. While this is definitely acceptable (but trendy) as an adjunct for faster flavor development and aging, I prefer to add tiny quantities so my cheddars don't take on the characteristics of Italian cheeses. If you let ST become the driving force, the cheese will start to take on the flavor & texture of Parm or Asiago. It will lose the nuances of a nice cheddar. ST is an aggressive acidifier, but it's pH curve is well behind the primary meso acidifiers. ST doesn't really kick in until 5-1/2 to 6 hours into a make. In fact thermo cheeses develop a lot of their acidity while pressing. So you want to be sure that the meso is the dominant force in the early stages of a make.

bbracken - There are 2 ways to skin a cat when pressing. They are pressing hard to achieve a desired final moisture content and then immediately vac packing. As you said, you can press and then air dry (in the cave) to achieve the same or better results. FYI, I never press at more than 5 psi.

Awesome...I can do 5 psi no problem. Sounds like a plan coming together! Perhaps the MM100 and a pinch of ST ...on the other hand, I do not believe I have made a cheddar with just meso, so maybe this one should be just meso, and the next one have a tad of thermo in it for comparison.

How tall are your cheddars Sailor? Just trying to figure out the PSI. I don't actually know what is the correct pressing for it, I just formulated an answer based on the recipe that was posted.

As for your culture assessment, while I don't think that 104°F will kill the MM100, it is on its top end and the acidity slows down indeed but once the curd cools the acidity curve turns sharply and it needs to be controlled. (I would opt for Probat222 or Aroma B in such case because they are slower). This isn't about proper/improper temperature for culture, it's about having comfortable control over acidity later.If only MM100 and KAZU are available I would opt for the KAZU because it's a Dutch style starter that is meant to work at exactly that temperature range with the typical curd cooking/washing at 100°F-120°F of the Dutch cheeses. You are right that Helveticus brings upon these dutch/Italian/Swiss properties that don't belong there and too much of it may cause the texture to become rubbery. But with all of that said, I think neither of these are ideal for cheddar (shouldn't you use RA26 or MA19 for that?) What would you use ideally and at what temp?

Personally I use a farmstead culture and start my Cantal like a Tomme; I know this isn't cheddar but the process has a lot in common. Haven't made a proper cheddar in probably 3 years...

My cheeses are 8" diameter x about 6.5" high (finished). PSI is not dependent on the height. That's why you can stack hoops when pressing and not alter the pressure used.

The recipe above calls for 102F as a baseline for cooking, not 104F (unless necessary). There is definitely meso mortality happening at 104F, so that should be a last ditch effort. I agree, this is about "comfortable" acid control. That's exactly why you heat to 102F in the first place. That will seriously slow down reproduction, metabolism, and acid production so that pH doesn't get out of control too quickly. Aroma B would be slower, but unnecessay. It does however bring sweet notes in if that's what you want. I use a little Aroma B in my Wensleydales for example to make them a little sweeter that my other cheddars.

I use RA-21 as suggested by Francois many months ago and am very happy with the flavor profile. The RA-21 has a MUCH slower pH curve in the beginning and then comes on hard and fast about 4-1/2 hours into a make. That's exactly where the 102F comes in, to slow things down at the right time so the acid builds more slowly. I ripen at 88F for 15 minutes using mother cultures of RA-21 and a tiny bit of TA-61 (thermo).

If using a dutch press and converting psi to weights, I my feeling is that if you calculate pressing weight based on surface area alone, you would squish a 1" tall pile of curd at the same weight that you would need to properly knot a 5" tall pile of the same surface area. I have seen double-tall Reblochons for example that get pressed in double weight and then sliced into two properly sized cheeses before salting. The logic was explained to me by the recipe's reliance upon a certain height of curds under the same surface area. Am I missing something?

I think we are in agreement on the culture about comfort and acidity curves. It's just easier to control. My suggestion of Aroma B was when comparing with the MM100 that Bruce was using because these two cultures have much of the same stuff but different speed. My guess was RA culture and it seems I was right. You can tell I don't do Cheddars. I do however have a Cantal style that I make by milling the curd of a lightly pressed (overnight) Tomme. This one has Helveticus and Proprionic in it so it it super nutty sweet at 4 months but even though the texture is Cheddar-ish, the flavor tastes nothing like it. No Diacytels on that one, and I am washing the curd at 100°F so it's just on the lower thermo and upper meso so my end texture is neither rubbery nor chalky/brittle. I am going to actually make a blue version of it next week.

Given that kazu is LLL, LLC, LLD and LH, whereas MM100 is LLL, LLC and LLD I think the thing to do is to go with the kazu, or perhaps some combination of MM100 and Kazu to reduce the % of LH in the mix. I need to get a few cultures that are singles in order to have more flexibility. I have too many mixes in my inventory. Perhaps once I have settled on a few cheeses to "specialize" in (right now I am primarily into cheddars and blues) I will be able to narrow down what cultures I need to keep in stock.

I am guessing, from your adaptation, that the recipe was originally designed for casomatic pressing. Blocks are formed under intense pressure in 2 story towers and sealed in bags right away. I would caution you against cold curing. Cold curing works best if you are using flavour adjunct cultures. We have some factories that use them, some that don't. All of our short aged cheddars don't use them and as such, develop flavour and texture defects if aged too long. The adjunct cheeses are much more robust and can age longer, although that is just a guide line. We constantly grade and move cheeses around in age profiles, the milk and even process parameters can make them somewhat unpredictable.